Saturday 16 September 2017

Imagi-Nation meets reality

After reading a great book, Changes in the Land written by William Cronon,  suggested by TMP member Otto Schmidt, I´m going  mention something I wrote in a previous post of mine,  the one about the Imex  Eastern Friendly Indians set.
There I showed my ignorance of Native American Indian culture when I wrote;

The women folk.
"As usual, the women are the ones working - cleaning Skins, making bread, carrying Wood etc"


"As Usual" !?  An eurocentric pro-Feminist view perhaps?

My assumption was similar to that of the early european Colonists, that being that the Native american women do all the "real" work* whilst their menfolk happily trott off hunting and fishing.
After reading the book, I now know that to suggest that as being incorrect.
I won´t edit out my assumption on  the Eastern Friendly Indains  Post so it it can stand as proof that I have since learnt otherwise.
The book is, at first a bit hard going but once I got used to the style, well worth reading and it contains a lot of info that has changed my perspective on the period of colonisation.
Also, I´d got into a bit of a Corner with the Bodstonian Imagi-Nation, and the book has  given me more ideas which I can work into the narrative.

Reading the book, it at least showed me that I was thinking along the right lines with my ideas about the Relationships between the Bodstonians and Native Indians and how I could improve them in regards to what actually happened in reality. 
Example, Without giving a too complicated and in depth Explanation (you have to read the book to realise what I mean) the book Shows that both sides cooperated in varying degrees with the "exploitation" of the ecology whilst having different perspectives on how and what was "exploited" and why. This inevitably  led to disagreements and Solutions that suited both or either side depending on thier wants Needs and expectations, the result of which wasn´t always the one desired by one side or the other..or both.  
Ok, my ideas were a bit simplified,  the "A Burning Dispute" Story for example, but  I was getting there.

Many Thanks Otto for the Suggestion.